Launched May 2002

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Previous Events
1st September 2004 

‘Body snatchers – whose body is this anyway? ’
 

Most of us assume that our bodies belong to us, and that it is our decision what should happen to our bodies during life and after death. But Nik Brown and Andrew Webster ask whether this is really true, indeed whether it has ever been true. New medical technologies now prompt important questions about ownership, property, choice, donation and voluntary consent. A whole series of new developments in medicine have surfaced which require that we discuss to whom our bodies belong, and where the boundaries of our bodies lie. These include new DNA databases, human tissue collections, stem cell banks, sperm and egg storage, etc.  New ways of substituting and transplanting bits of our bodies have also begun to alter our relationships to other people’s bodies and even other animals and machines.   

As these new medical technologies begin to take shape, Brown and Webster ask: whose body is this anyway?
 

6th October 2004

'Applied sport psychology: The mental edge in sport!'

Mark Nesti of York St Johns
Psychologists are used increasingly by top sportsmen and women to gain that elusive competitive edge on their opponents. The evening will focus on how sport psychologists apply their skills and knowledge in sport to assist performance and to motivate, giving a brief history of the discipline and its relation to mainstream psychology and research. Mark Nesti will show the mental skills that he uses in his work with athletes.  

3rd November 2004

1st December 2004

'Ecological Footprints'
John Barrett of the Stockholm Institute
There is little dispute that levels of household expenditure, number of consumers, extraction of raw materials and the amount of goods consumed have increased in industrialised countries for many decades.
The fact that our lives depend on purchasing more and more products has caused a number of negative consequences to the global environment and the livelihoods of people in developing countries.
 

2nd February 2005
 

'The ‘art’ of Egyptian mummification: a no brainer?'
Dr. Stephen Buckley of the University of York

Mummification can be explained in terms of the practical and the symbolic, both equally crucial to the ancient Egyptians’ view of death and the Afterlife. The talk will discuss the methods and mind-set behind the embalmers’ so-called 'art', and in doing so address many misunderstandings and misguided dogmas, which continue to thrive.

'We are all scientists now'

4th May 2005
'Whither voice science?'

Prof David M Howard of the University of York

Voice science has moved on a great deal during the last two decades and is now used in a wide variety of applications. This discussion evening will look at some of these areas in scientific terms and speculate about the future. One of these applications is singing, where David has been working amid choristers at Wells Cathedral to explore children’s singing voice development. The second are to be examined is forensic acoustics, here David will look at the coughs in the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ case. Finally he will look at naturalness in electronically synthesised speech and the impact such research could have on society as a whole.

'Making the most of renewable resources'
Prof Dianna Bowles of CNAP

Green plants manufacture a vast diversity of chemicals and as such, represent a major renewable resource for society.  With the depletion of fossil reserves and the increasing cost of oil and petrochemicals, it is essential that sustainable processes replace those that depend on finite resources.  In this context, plants and plant products have the potential to sustain the global economy, but society is only starting to realise their industrial potential.
 

Wednesday 5 October

'Flood Management: What are the Options?'
Robin Bailey from the Environment Agency

Wednesday 2 November

'Life Coaching'
Jeanette Senior, Life Coach

Wednesday 7 December

'Conflicting Interests: communities and conservation'
Dr Jon Lovett of the University of York

The biodiversity conservation agenda is generally driven by a desire to project the global public good - you can live in York and want to save elephants, even though you may never actually go and see one in the wild.
However, people living with elephants have a different perspective - conservation means alienation of land, damage to crops and loss of life. Can this conflict be resolved? Or are we guilty of double standards? For
example, if we want to save tigers, shouldn't we also be reintroducing wolves to Yorkshire?